The authors find in a qualitative study of online daters that filtering through the many options, partners and choices offered by online dating sites is a prime concern in online dating. This paper is to characterize these filtering techniques, and also to discuss their potential social impact. The authors find that filtering begins at the initial screening process as daters try to “catch out” incongruous behaviour before investing too much energy in someone unsuitable. Participants quickly become increasingly technologically literate of the code-based features of the site in their quest for greater filtering efficiency. They also come to rely on the cultivation of their own filtering “instinct”. In the end, however, the prevalence and ongoing practice of filtering creates what can only be termed a shopping culture of dating, which often serves to sap the dating energies of participants.